“Yeah, I’ll have a vente, iced tea, black,unsweetened; a vente, iced, latte; a grande, non-fat,no whip, mocha; and,” I looked over to Alton. He wasstill staring at the menu his face slightly contortedwith a look of utter indecision. This was ourroutine; Alton had to agonize over his options, everymorning, until he ultimately ALWAYS ordered a tall,soy, no whip, hot chocolate. “Alt, do you know whatyou want?” I asked.

“Oh, that sounds perfect,” he said giving me his sweetsmile, as if he had never considered the possibility.

“And a tall, soy, no whip, hot chocolate,” I said,looking to Alton for confirmation. He nodded. I paidand we moved over to the pick-up counter to wait forour drinks.

“AL-TON,” I heard a high-pitched shriek, coming frombehind us. Zsa Zsa Galore, or as his mother knowshim, Kyle, ran up to Alton sweeping him off his featand into a spinning hug. This was no easy feet, asZsa was wearing six-inch platform, metallic fuchsiasandals ornamented with rhinestone butterflies. Theheals of the sandals were made of stacked spears,which reminded me of an anal toy that Alton had beenbegging me buy. Zsa’s outfit consisted of a thinlystrapped bright pink, satin embroidered floral corset,which displayed cleavage any woman would die for, amatching stretch satin pencil skirt, and pink fish netstockings. Zsa Zsa was sporting a beautiful blondepageboy wig along with a classic French manicure andpedicure. A beautiful black pearl choker necklacewith a floral motif centerpiece, and matchingbracelet, earrings, and ring accented the outfit. Thering was worn over soft pink opera length gloves.

I realize it is odd for a police detective to be awareof such fashion detail, but you see Kyle is my littlebrother, and just as he can recite police code withthe best officers on the beat, I pay strong attentionto the details of Zsa Zsa’s costumes.

Kyle set Alton back on his feet and pulled me into along held embrace. He kissed me on the cheek as Iasked, “What are you doing here? I thought you wereon tour.” Kyle is an acrobat and tumbler for a majorcircus company; he keeps an apartment here, but is onthe road most of the year.

He pulled off one of his gloves and gently whipped hislipstick imprint off of my cheek, “Our equipment had aminor malfunction and has to be reworked. So, I amoff for a couple of weeks and I decided to come homeand capture the Mz. Rainbow Pride Crown,” he answered.

I turned to Alton, “Did you know he was coming home?”It’s rare that Kye would show up unannounced. Altonand I speak with him at least once or twice a week.

Kyle and Alton are both 26, and they have been bestfriends since the 4th grade. For the majority of mylife, Alton Riggs was one of my little brother’ssnotty, troublesome friends. He was a constantannoyance at our house, even after Kyle left to studycircus arts. I figured that Alton’s continuedpresence at my parent’s house was because he missedKyle, and being with our family was a way to lessenhis loneliness; that is until he kissed me.

“You’re beautiful, Kye,” Alton said, as he glancedover Kyle’s ensemble, “Did you make it?” He asked,while running a finger across the intricate embroideryof Zsa Zsa’s corset.

Kyle gently nodded, “Alton, baby, what the fuck areyou wearing?” Kyle gave a little flick to Alton’skilt. The sarcasm and disgusted tone of voice wastruly that of the embodiment of Zsa; Kyle would nevertease Alton that way.

I shot Kye a look of displeasure with his treatment ofmy partner, but Alton let out a laugh, “It’s greatisn’t it. Mitch and I ordered them. He’ll be here ina little while, but I doubt he has boxers on underhis,” Alton’s voice had now taken on a note ofdispleasure.

I let out a soft chuckle, “God, I miss you kid,” Isaid, quickly pulling Kye into a rough, brotherlyembrace.

“Watch the dress, Ziegfeld!” he said, quickly pushingme away.

Kyle, Alton and the third member of their troupe ofcross dressing 10 year olds, Melvin Mitchel, knightedme Sir Ziegfeld, during the time I served as the 13year-old producer and protector of their follies. Thename was eventually shortened to Ziggy, and here Istand 16 years later.

“Alton and I are meeting Colin and Mitch in a coupleof minutes to watch the parade, come join us,” Ioffered an invitation to Kyle.

“Sorry, love, I will be on the Mz. Rainbow Pride Floatwith the rest of the contestants. I have to run, orthose other queen’s will snag all the best spots,”Kyle blew a kiss and quickly exited the shop.

I picked up our tray of drinks, Alton grabbed the restof our gear and we left to claim our seat along theParade route.

We were sitting on the sidewalk when CC and Lavenderpulled up in front of us on CC’s Harley. CC waswearing slightly too tight black leather pants and awhite tank top. She obviously didn’t have a bra on,as the thin material of her tank top fully displayedall of her ample bosoms. Lavender was on the back ofthe bike holding a small ice chest; she was wearing avery short pair of jean shorts (they might be betterdescribed as jean hot pants) and a spiky black leatherbra.

Lavender handed the cooler to Alton, and hopped offthe back of the bike. She wasted no time in peeking alook under Alton’s kilt, and let out disapproving,“Pthhht” when she discovered that his privates werenot public, “Hey, I thought you were going Keanu.”

Alton slightly stuttered, “Well, there are going to bea lot of Ziggy’s colleagues around, so, uh, I thoughtit was probably better to cover up,” he answered whilelooking at the ground and swaying slightly. I tookhis hand and gave him a gentle and reassuring squeeze.

Colin and I sat back down on the sidewalk, afterwaving goodbye to our partners. I could see the Mz.Rainbow Pride Float coming down the street, “Kyle’shome,” I told Colin.

“Well, where is he? Did he bring Serge?” Colin asked. Crap, I hadn’t even thought to ask about Serge?

“It was kind of a surprise, actually,” I replied, “Altand I ran into him in Starbucks. He was in a rush toget to the Mz. Rainbow Pride Float.”

“A surprise, I thought you two were close? And youjust ran into her in Starbucks. She had to have knownshe was coming home if she entered the Pageant. Theyhad the evening gown competition last weekend.”

I started to reply, when my radio beeped and I heardBrokowski’s voice, “Shots have been fired at TheCenter’s float.”

My heart skipped several beats, as a picture ofAlton’s bloody body flashed before my eyes. I couldsee that Colin was having similar thoughts.

I placed a hand on Colin’s shoulder, “Colin, you haveto stay here. I’ll make sure Mitch is okay, but Ican’t have you rushing into a crime scene. It isn’tsafe. I will have him call you. I promise.”

“Zig, I can’t just sit here,” he pleaded.

“Colin, I have got to go. Will you please go makesure Kyle is safe? I will call you as soon as I can,”I called out to him as I began to jog towards to TheCenter’s float.

I arrived at the float, pulled my badge from my backpocket, and flashed it to the officers on the scene.

I glanced around and saw Alton and Mitch leaning overa young man, who was lying on the ground with a trailof blood flowing from his head.